Hardware Laptop

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

Anyone who figured OLED would go the way of SED has another thing comin’, and Samsung’s got the prototype to prove it. Over at the OLED-heavy FPD International 2008 show, Samsung is showcasing the biggest panel (of this nature) that its pilot line can even create: a 40-inch Full HD OLED display. 1,920 x 1,080 pixels of delicious OLED goodness, mixed with a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, a color gamut of 107% NTSC, a luminance of 200cd/m2 and a thickness of just 8.9-millimeters. Judging by first hand reports, the actual quality wasn’t top-notch, but we’re willing to forgive the early glitches in hopes of a better tomorrow. Hit the read link for one more look.

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Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops

Intel’s Linux-based Moblin OS may have lost some considerable ground to Windows XP in the netbook space, but it looks like the company is far from ready to throw in the towel, and it’s now getting a bit of a helping hand from the Taiwan government. Apparently, the government will be helping Intel open up a new development center in Taiwan, which will be tasked with furthering the development of the OS and, hopefully, attract the interest of local companies like ASUS and Acer. Any further specifics are expectedly a bit light at the moment, but the development center is apparently on the fast-track, with it reportedly set to open in December of this year.

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Peeks and glimpses are alright, but we all know those are just the crumbs leading up to the feast. CNET’s UK branch was able to grab hold of what appears to be a retail Pioneer KRL-32V KURO LCD, and of course, they paused every few seconds during the presumably mayhem-filled unboxing process in order to snap a few photos and let us all in on the fun. Early impressions were overly positive, with the lucky unboxers noting that Freeview picture quality was “impressive,” and that this here set proves that Pioneer definitely “has something to bring to the LCD party.” Hit the read link to get yourself all kinds of jealous on the inside.

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Filed under: Handhelds

We already knew Aigo’s P8860 MID was hacker-friendly, and all that is well, fine and good — but what about for consumers who aren’t into soldering irons and illicit boot ROMs? The crew over at Pocketables sat down with the handheld for a spell in order to bust out their best review, and at the end of the day, they found it to be somewhat compelling and a touch irrelevant all at the same time. You see, hardcore nerds (read: us) will likely be able to appreciate the fact that an x86-based system, with all the amenities of Flash support, etc., was squeezed into such a small device; the average joe / jane, however, probably won’t take the time to recognize the advantages over their current smartphone. In other words, this here is an splendid example of a niche product, and you should probably consider how necessary it is in your life before pulling the trigger — but you already knew that, now didn’t you?

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Filed under: Cellphones

OpenMoko, the company most famous for its altogether open Neo FreeRunner, is reportedly quite close to kicking out an Android-based handset. Before you get all shocked and appalled, let’s look at this rationally. If you’ll recall, we actually got wind of such an occurrence way back in April of this year, and some of those very details are jibing nicely with what we’re hearing now. Apparently a company dubbed Koolu will be looking to OpenMoko for the design, and we could see a device emerge as early as next month. Initial specs for the elusive mobile include a 400MHz / 500MHz Samsung 2442B CPU, 128MB of SDRAM, a 2.84-inch 640 x 480 resolution touchscreen, 802.11b/g WiFi, aGPS / GPS, inbuilt accelerometer, a pair of “hard” buttons, Bluetooth support, a 2.5mm headphone jack (boo!) and a microSD card slot. Obviously we’ll have to wait and see if any of this pans out, but we’ll be the first to cross our fingers and hope for yet another Android phone in the mix.
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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Right on schedule, it looks like Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex is now available. Linux fans should look forward to performance gains and a new Connection Manager with 3G support, as well as the ability to install from USB drives and built-in BBC content availability. Torrents should be popping now — and if you haven’t hit up the ‘bu yet, what’re you waiting for?

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Filed under: Desktops

After almost a year of 20-inchedness, Dell’s going after those in need of extra pixels with the new XPS One 24. The 24-inch all-in-one brings a 1920 x 1080, 16:9 display, perfect for some HD entertainment, and the $1,699 starting price includes a bit more than you’ll get in one of those $999 20-inchers. There’s 4GB of RAM standard, integrated Intel GMA X4500HD graphics and an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 processor under the hood. Dell’s still offering this in (PRODUCT) RED and regular, non-humanitarian versions, and for some extra cash you can spring for discreet NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics or a Blu-ray drive. The TV tuner is still standard, and at least a few basic configurations look to be available now.

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Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals

Ruh roh. We’re really, really hoping this isn’t just the first of another long string of laptop battery recalls, but the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with a slew of other outfits, has just announced a voluntary recall of around 35,000 Sony laptop batteries. As you’d expect, the Li-ions in question “can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers,” and there have already been 19 reports of overheating including 17 reports of flames / fire and two reports of consumers getting mildly burnt. For the full list (and it’s pretty long) of affected laptop models from HP / HP Compaq, Toshiba and Dell, be sure to give the read link some serious attention. Oh, and stop using that battery pronto if yours is one of the afflicted.

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Filed under: Laptops

Lenovo first announced a 3G add-on from AT&T and Ericsson for some of its laptops a few months ago, but it’s now out there tooting its mobile broadband horn once again, and saying that the three companies are now making the option even cheaper and more widely available. According to Lenovo, the built-in 3G option is now available in all three of its SL series ThinkPads, as well as every single model in its T and X series and, what’s more, it’s also now $150 cheaper than before, or about the same price as an equivalent non-3G-equipped laptop. Of course, you will have to sign up for AT&T’s DataConnect service, but the carrier is at least throwing in 30 days of free service to help ease you in.

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There’s some hysterical outrage out there right now over the New Xbox Experience’s HD Netflix HDCP restrictions — apparently it only works with HDCP-compliant digital displays, which is prompting a lot of hand-wringing about copyright restrictions and whether older 360s will get “locked out.” Well, we’re here to make it all better — that’s our NXE-equipped 360 connected over component, happily playing back HD Netflix at 1080i. See? Works fine. The problem is that some older LCD monitors don’t support HDCP over DVI, so if you’re in the minority of people using an HDMI to DVI adapter to drive an older display that doesn’t do HDCP, HD Netflix won’t work, since it can’t authenticate. That’s not the best situation, but DVI isn’t a default supported 360 output, so we wouldn’t expect 100 percent compatibility — and besides, you can always run VGA. We’re waiting on official confirmation from Microsoft of all this — we want to get things absolutely right — but in the meantime you can console yourself with another shot of HD Heroes over component after the break.
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